Space Petting Zoo Crisis! by monika

[raw]
made by monika for LD35 (JAM)
Very incomplete (bad weekend), but I figured I'd post it since it's playable and has a win condition. It's basically a proof of concept.

It's a game designed for three players on one big shared monitor and three smartphones. You can play it single-player, but the map is kind of big and you have to walk around a lot. You can also now mirror the shared screen so you can play with remote friends.

As is, you control your little character by clicking on your phone screen while you search the map for yellow rectangles that are *totally* power generators. Each one can be turned on to face one or more other power generators, and you can cycle between them by clicking. You win the game if you manage to point them all at each other in such a way that all eight are connected in a loop. There is a single solution.

(If it has trouble generating puzzles, that's because it was tested for 6 generators and I changed it last minute. Let me know if it repeatedly fails.)

There are also both objects and monsters disguised as objects hiding around the world, but currently they don't actually attack you so you can ignore them. The original plan was to have each monster attack each type of character in a set pattern, with monsters avoiding groups of players, to make you decide between going fast by splitting up and staying safe by exploring together. But that didn't happen in time so just pretend the monsters you can just barely see out of the corner of your eye are attacking you.

The art is all free svg packs and super placeholdery, so if you art and like the concept, get in touch.

Update: Some UI fixes to make it easier to figure out where the generators are pointing, and figure out how close you are to finding the solution. A QR Code generator to speed up setting up the game over multiple devices. Mirroring. Optional easy modes and motion smoothing.

Ratings

Coolness 71% 3
Overall(Jam) 2.95 817
Fun(Jam) 2.54 967
Humor(Jam) 2.39 570
Innovation(Jam) 3.12 492
Mood(Jam) 2.58 892

Feedback

Lady Beardo
19. Apr 2016 · 23:19 UTC
Innovative, as always. When I tried it I only had one other player (not two). We couldn't quite figure out how to win, and that might be because we weren't three players, but a really interesting framework for sure!
ChrisMingay
20. Apr 2016 · 12:24 UTC
Waiting in room JZXR for a couple of people so we can rate this game :)
Millefey
20. Apr 2016 · 14:57 UTC
I managed to "win" on my second round (I didn't want to give up)! 8 posts might be a bit too much for a single player though, since it takes a while to get across the screen to tweak the directions. It's also very likely more fun with more players (as intended). But I do like the concept!
Arg410
20. Apr 2016 · 19:58 UTC
Great I love it. I took about 30 mins trying to "win" (sadly i still haven't) But I will play this some more when im bored, maybe bring some friends!!
danbolt
22. Apr 2016 · 04:32 UTC
I love games that use smartphones as personal controllers, especially over web, so you're making me fall in love with you right now! The idea seems super cool to do with friends. I think I'll have to give it a go when I have some buddies over.

The only two things I found a bit hard was traversing across the map, especially just to switch two power generators, and the "janky" motion when moving. If there was some sort of animation smoothing, that would be really cool.

Otherwise, super idea. Thanks for sharing!
TeamScripta
23. Apr 2016 · 15:00 UTC
I played by myself and it was really difficult to visualize the whole map and point the arrows correctly, so I can imagine how playing with buddies would help. It definitely has potential!
SHLFStudios
25. Apr 2016 · 02:38 UTC
Wish I had more people to play this with!
Afendar
25. Apr 2016 · 11:21 UTC
great job, i like concept but I'm very sad that you have not finished. But is functional in first time.
pixel_maniacs
25. Apr 2016 · 11:37 UTC
Innovative idea. Nice artwork. A good entry!
Please have a look on my entry, too.
orukinawa
28. Apr 2016 · 10:31 UTC
I was really impressed by the system set up to host/join games. The qr code really made things easier. Gonna try the actual game later with friends.
marod
28. Apr 2016 · 10:31 UTC
Nice game!
Rock Eaters
28. Apr 2016 · 23:38 UTC
hard to launch but nice game
nlbi21
01. May 2016 · 17:07 UTC
Nice game i like the concept good job.
Muel
01. May 2016 · 17:42 UTC
The multiplayer concept is awesome!
Wertle
05. May 2016 · 18:12 UTC
Super props for tackling online multiplayer game for a jam (and getting it working!). I enjoy games that are easy for people to join in, as you could do with the QR. I feel like there's some things here that would be interesting to explore further, but it was difficult to get a feel for what the gameplay would be like. I did like the dichotomy in having a host with a large view and the individual players only having small views so that the host could have some sort of communicative role (though that might be difficult with remote players who aren't in the same room). Otherwise it was tricky to understand what the arrows indicated, like if touching the generator again would switch to that specific direction, or if it was indicating that a second connection could be made. Probably just needed some UI clarity. Nice job tackling the online portion, that stuff is super hard. If you continue this, it might be easier to prototype the rest of the game just on one screen first to flesh out the context, because that the moment I can't get a feel for what it's going to be like. Nice work!
MayankUnreal
09. May 2016 · 11:15 UTC
Nice innovative idea and great game design.
broknecho
10. May 2016 · 00:22 UTC
Super neat Idea! Definitely innovative. I liked how it was a co-op puzzle game. Pretty difficult tackling something like this on a weekend project. Kudos for getting some going!

Keep it up!